Our spiritual and emotional growth in A.A. does not depend so deeply
upon success as it does upon our failures and setbacks. If you will bear
this in mind, I think that your slip will have the effect of kicking
you upstairs, instead of down,

— AS BILL SEES IT, p. 184

In keeping with the pain and adversity which our founders encountered
and overcame in establishing A.A., Bill W. sent us a clear message: a
relapse can provide a positive experience toward abstinence and a
lifetime of recovery. A relapse brings truth to what we hear repeatedly
in meetings – "Don't take that first drink!" It reinforces the belief in
the progressive nature of the disease, and it drives home the need for,
and beauty of, humility in our spiritual program. Simple truths come in
complicated ways to me when I become ego driven.